Giant Cell Tumor of Bone: 6 Years Institutional Retrospective Review

Abstract

Introduction Surgery is the cornerstone for the management of giant cell tumors (GCTs). There are no definite guidelines for the management. The purpose of this series was to study the patient demography and results of the surgical intervention for skeletal GCTs in our population. Materials and Methods All the histologically diagnosed cases of GCT of bone from year 2012 to 2018 were retrospectively analyzed for patient demographics, site, and grade of the lesion, type of biopsy taken (if any), nature of surgical intervention, and final outcome with respect to complications. Results Seventeen cases of skeletal GCT were diagnosed on histopathology. The mean age at presentation was 31.5 ± 10.9 years with females affected 1.4 times more. Proximal tibia was the most common site (29.4%) followed by distal radius and distal femur in that order. About 58.8% of the lesions were of Campanacci grade 2 and remaining were grade 3 lesions. Ten patients had extended curettage, five had en bloc resection, and one had amputation as the primary treatment. Twenty percent patients (n = 3) had local recurrence of the pathology and one patient developed distant recurrence (lung metastasis). Conclusion Proximal tibia followed by distal radius was the most common site of GCT in our population. The tumor behavior and recurrence cannot be predicted with any grading system. The goal should be salvage of the joint by intralesional curettage, with resection reserved for distal radius GCTs, cases with extensive soft tissue extension or those with destruction of the articular cartilage and joint involvement.